The Rule Of Three

I am not what you would call a clothes horse, by any stretch of the imagination. I have clothes that I like to wear and some that I don’t like to wear. The problem that I have is that I lack the ability to make informed choices even when I am informed. This inability limits my wardrobe and in certain respects it bleeds into the rest of my life.

Every time that my son comes over, he will eventually look at my feet. I don’t think that he has any kind of weird foot fetish, but I can’t say for certain and it doesn’t apply here at all anyways. When I catch him looking, he will usually mention something about how I should buy new runners because the ones that I am wearing have holes in them. I tell him that I am good for runners and the reason that I have the number “3’s” on was because I was digging in the garden. Sometimes I am wearing the number “2’s” which are my everyday going hither, thither and yon kind of shoes. They have holes in them too, but not as large as the number “3’s” and these ones actually have tread. The number “1’s” which I rarely do wear and he wouldn’t have seen them except in a going out on the town kind of event. They are in pristine condition and have been since I bought them in Las Vegas over a year ago.

The last time Brendan was looking at my feet I acknowledged that I was in need of a new pair of runners which would effectively bump all of the others down a notch and would send the current number “3’s” into the garbage bin. I would salvage the laces if they were of any use, but after such a long and storied career on my feet, that seems unlikely. I always buy the same brand, so it isn’t a matter of making a decision (which would be excruciating) but just waiting until they go on sale.

This is the Rule Of Three. You need a back up and a back up for the back up. It isn’t that complicated when it comes to foot wear. My poor dress shoes (all three pairs) just sit under the desk and collect dust until I have a use for one of them. They are selected on a strictly “what is appropriate” basis. The Rule Of Three applies to jeans as well, but number “1” and “2” are interchangeable and number “3” is relegated to work situations only.

T-shirts are more problematic, because I tend to acquire them in bulk and different quality shirts wear out quicker than others. I tend to cycle through the same five to seven shirts until I have to retire one to the rag bin and another is moved in to take its place. The Rule of Three should apply, but for some reason Louise won’t do the laundry on my schedule. Weird! I do have a drawer for wearable in public t-shirts and a drawer for painting and gluing t-shirts.

The Rule of Three applies to most things in life, or it should. I have three kids, I have had about three real jobs in my life, I have loved three women in my life (Louise, Louise and Louise) and we have had three dogs. Buster is the last.

The rule doesn’t apply to the number of gifts I should get for birthdays and Christmas, or the number of hugs and kisses the grandkids give me. For all else in my life, just look to the Rule Of Three.